Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Inaction speaks louder than words. Why it is imperative to be involved in your own story.

Unauthorized to speak on the record, the US Embassy let this photo of the aggrieved widow speak on its behalf.

It’s true that the Internet abhors a vacuum.

So when the US Embassy in Nairobi whisked one of their diplomats back to the States after he killed a father of three in a car accident in Kenya and then stayed mum about the whole affair, the Internet community filled that vacuum with wall-to-wall vitriol.

Things only got worse when—nearly a month after the accident—US embassy officials in Nairobi sent the man’s destitute widow a letter of condolence which
read, in part, “I hope it will bring some comfort to know that the
thoughts and prayers of the entire American Embassy community are with
you and your family at this difficult time.”

That was it. No
check, no cash, no movie passes. Nothing. This slight, as you can
imagine, enraged the global Internet community anew, which is no mean
feat considering how angry everyone already was at the Embassy’s
deafening silence.

People, remember: “No comment” is no longer an
option. If the story is about you, you have to be a part of it. You
cannot let others tell your story for you.